


(Non) Attachment

by subconforest



Category: A Hat in Time (Video Game)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-25
Updated: 2019-05-25
Packaged: 2020-03-17 08:38:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,726
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18961717
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/subconforest/pseuds/subconforest
Summary: Freeing her best friend from the crate he's been stuck in for half the cruise, Hat Kid's ready to spend an afternoon with him. Snatcher has other plans.





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**Author's Note:**

> I haven't seen a whole lot of content related to Snatcher being freed and running around on the cruise ship, so I thought it'd be an interesting thing to write about (and give some explanation for some of the things that happen within the DLC). I had a lot of fun writing out Hat Kid and Snatcher's dynamic! I hope to do it again sometime soon.

“You really did me a favor back there kid, you know that?” While the cruise ship is vast, Snatcher knows he can’t reasonably be as tall and menacing as he wants to be. He’ll have to settle for about half his usual height, unfortunately. “It’s so _easy_ to get yourself into one of those crates, but getting out is another story!”

This is the closest Hat Kid is ever going to get to a “thank you” from the Snatcher. She knows by now that he isn’t the sort to be grateful for anything—at least, not directly. “Anything for my BFF!”

“Yeah, well, it’s been fun, kiddo, but I’ve got some sightseeing to do—”

“Wait!” She jumps up, grabbing a hold of his hand before he can get very far. He tugs away out of instinct, but stays in place like she’s still holding on anyway. “You can’t go yet! What about the deal we made?”

“Huh? … Oh.” Right. Their so-called “deal.” It’s bad enough that she wrote all over the original contract he had written up, but using the best friend forever clause as leverage to help him out of his predicament? She’s just the _worst_. “You never specified when our quality time was starting, actually.”

“Now!”

Of course she’d say that. “What, really? Already?”

“I wouldn’t let you out if I wasn’t ready for some bestie time!” Hat Kid smiles, clearly proud of herself for the situation she’s gotten the other into. “C’mon, I’ve been bored! I wanna do something fun!”

“Would taking the soul of one of those blobs count?” Snatcher points to one that happens to be near them. It’s hard to _not_ run into one on this ship as far as he can tell.

“Hewwo!” it cheerfully greets. “How can I hewp you?”

“Do they even have a soul? I mean, I could try and see, but...”

“Hey, don’t do that!” Hat Kid frowns, grabbing her bestie’s hand a second time. He doesn’t tug away this time, but he’s very reluctant to move. “C’mon! Let’s go somewhere else.”

“Let me talk to this thing real quick first, kiddo.” Snatcher squints at it, even as Hat Kid is trying to pull him away from it. “What even are you?”

“A seal!” The small round creature smiles. “I _think_ I have a souw… I’m twying to think vewy hawd about it, but I pwobably I do!”

“Okay, nevermind! Forget I asked.” The last thing he wants is to eat its soul and possibly come down with whatever speech pattern it’s infected with. He turns to his so-called bestie, who is still doing her best to pull the ghost away from the scene. “Fine, I’m done here. Take me wherever you want, kid.”

Perhaps he shouldn’t have used the word “wherever” so liberally.

“What is this, a pool? On a _ship? That's surrounded by water?_ ” Snatcher’s trying to wrap his head around the concept. “I thought being on a cruise ship was to, you know, not be _in_ the water.”

Hat Kid shrugs, jumping on top of one of the inflatable tubes sitting in pool and doing a few bounces off of it. “I dunno! I don’t think about it too much!”

“Of course you don’t.”

“Can you swim?” After getting tired of jumping, she lets herself sink into the middle of it, arms out at her sides as she floats around in it.

Snatcher looks at the body of water for a few more moments, making no move to get into the water. None of these inflatables are big enough for him, anyway—they seem more child-sized to him. “Technically,” he answers, “but I’m not getting in there.”

“Why not?” She pouts. “Not even for a minute?”

“No, kid, I have no reason to.” He’s already slinking over to one of the pool chairs. “I can sit here until you get bored of doing whatever you’re doing. Jumping? That’s your thing, isn’t it?”

Considering she’s not saying anything back, he figures maybe, for the time being, he’ll be left alone. She’s right there, but she’s not directly interacting with him, so he’d call that a good solution. Lounging on the chair, Snatcher enjoys this momentary calm, glancing around the area since there isn’t much else to do around here. Taking his eyes off of the kid was a mistake as soon as he realizes a plastic ball is coming straight for his head. He shouldn’t have counted his blessings so soon.

“Catch!” He catches it, but purposely has his clawed hand poke a hole in it. It’s deflating quite nicely. “Hey!”

“Oops!” The ghost tosses the flat piece of plastic over his shoulder. “Looks like we can’t play with that any longer! Too bad.” However, Hat Kid has a wide smile on her face, which unnerves Snatcher slightly. “What?”

Before he could repeat his question, Snatcher finds another inflatable ball coming for his face. This time, he’s not quick enough to catch it, much to the kid’s amusement. It’s not like having a ball that weighs absolutely nothing hitting his face _hurt_ , but it’s not exactly what he’d describe as a “good time.” More like a nuisance, like what this kid is turning into the longer he’s on this cruise ship with her.

“Throw it back!” She’s sitting up now, arms outstretched in anticipation. Really, has she been bored enough to want to toss a toy back and forth? Sighing, he throws it back over to her, and the two of them continue this game of catch for a few minutes. After a while, she holds the ball in her hands, frowning and tossing it up and down a bit before voicing her annoyance. “Can’t you play catch in a more exciting way?”

Oh, now she’s done it. “Exciting? Well, if you say so!” As soon as the ball is thrown in his direction, he grins, spiking it back at her head as hard as he can. It bounces off of her, causing her to fall backwards into the pool water as the ball flies off toward the bar. While Hat Kid, wet and disgruntled, tries to get herself back onto the inflatable, he hears some yelling off to the side.

Drunken, accented yelling.

“ _Who_ threw this!?” Even though the bird (that’s a bird, right?) is apparently glued to the bar seat, his voice carries so far that, even from a mile away, Snatcher can hear this guy’s squawking. He vaguely remembers seeing this guy somewhere before, but he can’t put his finger on it. “Yer gonna pay fer the drink ye just ruined!”

“The dwinks are aww incwusive, sir!” the seal bartender helpfully chirps out.

“It’s the principle of it, laddie,” he answers back in a whisper. “Now, what was I sayin’ again? Oh, right.” The yellow bird thing clears his throat. “WHICH OF YE GOOD FER NOTHING PECK-NECKS THREW THIS BALL!?”

While bustling with activity before, it falls silent as soon as the man starts raising his voice. Hat Kid, still recovering from her short trip under the sea, points to the Snatcher (who was making a half-hearted effort at leaving the scene). “Snatcher did it.”

Damn. If only he wasn’t a sucker for drama, he’d be out of here by now. “Come on, really? After all we’ve been through?”

Finally detaching himself from his bar stool, the bird marches over to the ghost, trying his best to keep his balance the entire way. He mostly succeeds. “Just gonna stand an’ have the kid rat ye out? Couldn’t even confess yerself!? Ye have some nerve being alive!”

“Good thing I’m not!” Snatcher says cheerfully. “The kid made me do it, you know. You should probably start yelling in her direction instead of mine.”

“Don’t bring the lass into this!” he yells. Everyone in the area has their eyes on them, making this more into a show than Snatcher had anticipated. “Ye cannae just come walkin’ in and interrupt me vacation like this!”

Okay, he’s really off his rocker. Being drunk certainly doesn’t help matters either. “That’s great. Anyway, I have places to be that _aren’t_ here, so—”

“Oh, no, I’m not letting ye off that easy!” The other fumbles around, trying to look for something within what he can only assume is his uniform. Is this what birds normally wear on vacation, or is he just a workaholic? “Now, where’d I put it…”

Before Snatcher can ask what he’s referring to, Hat Kid, drenched to the bone, is pulling herself out of the pool and waddling over to the two of them. She’s blissfully unaware of the situation. “Hey, what are you doing, Conductor?”

“Not now, lassie,” he grumbles, “trying to find me knife. This peck-neck is on me last nerve.”

“Knife? Did you miss the part where I said I’m not alive? Here’s a helpful tip for you: I’m not alive.”

“Then I’ll kill yer a second time!”

Snatcher turns to Hat Kid. “Is he normally like this?”

“Angry?” She nods. “Yeah.”

“Great.” What’s he supposed to do, stand around and wait for the Conductor to find the knife he probably left in his luggage somewhere? Nah. Snatcher picks the bird up by the collar of his uniform. “Okay, your tantrum was amusing for the first minute, but you’re reeeally getting on my nerves here.”

“What!?” He struggles, trying to worm himself out of Snatcher’s grasp. “Put me down!”

“What was that? Put you down? Well, if you insist!” He drops the Conductor in the water, who begins to flail and scream for help. “Oh, you can’t swim, can you? Oops! Should’ve asked before subjecting you to your untimely death. My mistake.”

“Oh no!” The seal lifeguard looks frantic, trying to figure out what to do in this scenario. “I think he’s dwowning and needs hewp!”

Yeah, he’s going to go before he begins to feel anything from this situation. Snatcher’s not really down for this “guilt” business, so what better way to avoid it than to leave? Too bad the kid actually _has_ a conscious. She really should get rid of that at some point.

“Why’d you do that!?” By this time, the whole fiasco’s been resolved. Hat Kid had to step in to keep the Conductor from drowning, and all he did after being saved was drag himself over to the bar, apparently. Can’t say Snatcher blames him for that.

“Did you miss the part where he threatened to stab me? And the other part where you blamed the whole thing on me?”

“Only because the ball you threw at me hit him!” she argues.

“Yeah, see, it wasn’t _supposed_ to hit him, so you can’t blame that entire incident on me. You get points for trying, at least.”

“You would’ve thrown it at him at some point.”

“Okay, that’s definitely possible, and maaaybe if I got even more tired by our little game of catch, I—”

_“You’re so mean!”_

“Hate to break it to you, kiddo, but I’ve been mean,” he replies. “You know, it’s never too late to take back this whole best friends forever nonsense. I’m willing to make the contract null and void _just_ for you!”

Hat Kid frowns. “I don’t want that! I just want you to stop acting mean to try and chase me away!”

_Ah._ This outburst renders him silent, Snatcher trying to search for something clever to say in response. It’s hitting him a bit too close for comfort if he’s being honest with himself. “Look, I don’t know where you’re trying to go with this, but—”

“You can be nice,” she insists. “Can’t you just try a bit harder?”

“Nnno?”

“For me?”

“Would answering no again get me anywhere?” The kid looks frustrated to the point of tears. Snatcher’s not sure why, but something about the look on her face is making him reconsider. Damn it. “Maybe?” Close enough.

Hat Kid sighs, arms and head on the railing as she looks out into the icy landscape. Something about the scenery makes him a tad uncomfortable, but he’s gotten good at hiding his personal discomfort. He’ll put the blame entirely on that and not the fact that the kid isn’t happy with him! There’s gotta be _something_ he could do, something that will cheer her up and not make it seem like he’s putting a lot of effort into doing it…

Then, he sees it. A glowing Time Piece in the distance. He’s surprised the kid hasn’t caught wind of it yet… Oh well! That’ll do it. Besides, he’s getting a bit tired of this entire cruise ship deal. He hasn’t been free from his crate for long, but as far as Snatcher’s concerned, he’s seen all that needs to be seen. In short: he’s over it, and he has a good idea as to how he can both end this vacation _and_ get the kid out of his hair for a bit.

“Heyyy, look, I know this whole ‘me being an awful friend’ situation has got you down, but what if I said I could make it a bit better?” He’s trying _so hard_ to sound nice and well-intentioned. What happened to no effort, Snatcher? “You’re trying to get more of those Time Pieces, right?”

She perks up, just as he expected. “You saw one!?”

He grins, a bit more sinister than usual. It’s in his nature, he can’t help it! “Why, yes, I have.” Putting a hand on her shoulder, he points out to the horizon. “You see that shiny thing out in the distance?”

Hat Kid squints. “No?”

“Look harder.”

“This isn’t a trick, right?”

“As much as I want it to be,” he says back, “no, it isn’t. One of your Time Pieces must’ve landed over there! Wonder how that happened.”

“I should ask if the ship’s going to head in that direction...”

Snatcher shakes his head, taking his hand off of her shoulder. “Don’t bother asking! In fact, I think you should take the initiative and steer it there yourself. Be a go-getter, kiddo!”

Hat Kid puts a hand to her chin, frowning. “I haven’t driven a cruise ship before, though.”

“And? You drive a spaceship, right? What’s the difference?”

That’s enough to convince her. The child smiles, running in place out of excitement. “You’re right, bestie! There probably isn’t much of a difference at all! I bet they use the same kind of controls and everything.”

“That’s the spirit!” Snatcher pats her on the back, the devious expression on his face only growing. She doesn’t notice this, apparently. “Now, since the captain’s out, I think it’d be a _great_ time to put your skills to the test! Just don’t tell the seals what you’re doing.”

“Yeah!” Before running off, she turns around, hugging the Snatcher. He stiffens up. “See, I _told_ you! You can be nice!”

“Uh. Yeah. Sure.” It takes him a moment to pry the small child off of him—children are _extremely_ difficult to peel off, apparently—and he places her in the direction of the captain’s quarters. “What are you waiting for, kiddo? Go!”

Watching Hat Kid run off, Snatcher can’t help but feel some sort of satisfaction. He lets his hand run along the ship’s railing, waiting for the kid to turn everyone’s world upside down. Literally! He has no idea if there actually _is_ any difference to a cruise ship and a spaceship’s controls, but he can’t help but venture a guess that the two are considerably different. She may be an alien that can pilot a ship, but what would she know about anything beyond that? Now, all there is to do at this point is wait. Considering he didn’t bring any of his books with him, there isn’t much to do besides let his thoughts wander. He forces himself to look away from the icy scenery before him.

The possible danger of the situation is not lost on him—seeing as how she dies during his Death Wishes at the drop of a hat, he’ll have to make sure that, even with all of the future chaos, the kid doesn’t _actually_ get herself killed. He’s the only one that should be responsible for her death, not a freak accident that he didn’t even directly cause! At least, that’s what he’s telling himself. It’s easier than letting himself get attached to her.

_She deserves better than that._


End file.
